Remember 9/11, Live 9/12
25 years ago this week
“Remember September 11th, Live September 12th”
Five years after September 11, 2001, legendary radio personality and gifted writer Greg Budell contributed an editorial and magazine article called “Remember September 11th, Live September 12th.”
In that piece, Budell asked that we recall not only that horrible day in which hijackers flew airplanes into symbols of American prosperity and power, killing over 3000 Americans in the process. He asked us to remember how we behaved in the aftermath. That night, members of Congress stood hand in hand on the steps of the United States Capitol singing “God Bless America.” The Stars and Stripes were displayed on every porch and lined every street and neighborhood. Television networks changed their logos to feature red, white, and blue graphics. Patriotic music old and new was in heavy rotation on radio stations.
Everyone was on the same page. The politicization of everything vanished, for a brief moment. We vowed to get to the bottom of how it all happened, as we all watched on an endless loop the terrifying images of the World Trade Center’s twin towers collapsing, the Pentagon in flames, and the wreckage of Flight 93 in that Pennsylvania field.
Our response as a nation was unity, patriotism, love, and faith. Our unofficial national pastor, Billy Graham, led interdenominational services at the National Cathedral. A Cross was fashioned out of the twisted metal at the World Trade Center site. St. Paul’s Cathedral was open 24/7 for nine months near the disaster site as workers needed a space to somehow process the horror they were seeing every day. Churches, mosques, and synagogues reported a boom in attendance in those months following 9/11, reversing a decades-long trend of secularism that had turned away from religion.
What has changed since then? Well, we added the Department of Homeland Security, for one. There was also the Patriot Act. The TSA and ICE emerged from that period, as well, with new policies and procedures for travelers in and out of the U.S. We also went to war with Iraq and Afghanistan for 20 years and spent trillions of dollars, not to mention hundreds of American lives. And now, a quarter century later, we find ourselves as divided as we have been since perhaps the 1850s.
Several years ago while visiting New York City, I made the pilgrimage to Ground Zero. Where the Twin Towers once stood are two sunken bottomless waterfalls, bordered by bronze panels featuring the names of the people who lost their lives that day. Even though you’re standing in the middle of Manhattan, it is peaceful and quiet. There is the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum attached to the site, as well, and if you can stand it, you can listen to those final voicemails and read about the lives of those we lost. It is sobering to take it all in; I even found someone with my name and reflected upon how it could have been any of us who died that day.
Reflecting upon the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, it would seem that the greater tragedy is how the lessons of that day have been all but forgotten. The generation born at the turn of the millennium and those who have come along since then have lived in the shadow of this event their entire lives. One would think that they might have inherited a more faithful, patriotic culture. Yet, today, we put down, block, or unfriend those with whom we disagree. A raft of 9/11 conspiracy theories exist. Decisions made by our leaders in the heat of the moment, now with the benefit of hindsight, have been criticized for years. There are, shockingly, leaders in charge – some in places most affected by the tragedy – who say things like, “America deserved it.” We have somehow become cruel as a society, insensitive to others in a way that was unimaginable in those days and weeks following 9/11. And while the possibilities of communication are greater today than they have ever been, in these 25 years we have somehow lost the ability to dialogue with each other in a respectful way.
This week, may we remember 9/11/01 . . . and, if we’re able, let us try to live 9/12/01 by being a little prouder to be an American, a little more faithful, and a little more loving toward our neighbors and friends. It’s the least we can do to honor the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001.
Michael Bird is an assistant professor at Faulkner University.
